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Thinking Like a Salesperson? Here’s Three Reasons That You Should (even if you’re not in Sales)

Posted
on Nov 13, 2015

It takes a special kind of person to be in Sales.

I should know; I spent my early career as a salesperson. While life ultimately lead me in other directions – marketing, strategy, operations – the lessons I learned as a sales rep have served me well no matter my role or function.

Here are three Sales Life-Skills that every business person should adopt:

Quantify Your Value

Sales people understand that their job is to bring in the dollars. They measure their performance against sales targets. Any day of the week, you can ask a sales person what they’ve closed and how close they are to their goal. They will know the answer as well as they know their own phone number. Can you clearly (and quantitively) articulate your contribution to your business’s top or bottom line? If you can’t, it’s time to stop sitting on the sidelines.

Focus On The Customer

Good sales people take time to uncover customer needs and desires. They try to look at the world from the customer’s perspective. If your view of the world is limited to your own fiefdom, you’re building walls – not solving problems.

Look To The Future

Sales is a cut-throat game. You’re only as good as your last month or quarter. While sales people enjoy their past successes, they always – always – focus on the future. If they don’t, they’re out. Are you reaching for the next win, or are you out?

As a librarian who stumbled into Sales, I never would have thought that the lessons I learned back then would still be helping me today. But that’s how life works, isn’t it? You have to use all your skills and experiences to win.

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